Pages

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Australian Tea Ceremonies

This may be a little bit complicated, so sit down.
I am only going to deal with the absolute essentials.

We drink tea in Australia.

Rule 1: Wherever you are, you cannot boil the water
more than once. Boil it twice and the water is ruined – chuck it out.

Rule 2: When you are onthewallaby (working,
travelling or looking for tucker (food) for a legitimate reason in the
wilderness) or gonewalkabout (travelling about for no other reason than it
seems to be the right thing to do at the time), stockmen (jackaroos) or stockwomen
(jillaroos) must stop to drink tea a couple of times a day and night.

Rule 3: On your nag (horse) you must carry a large
light-metal can with a metal handle (1-2 litres, called a billy) - filled
with ingredients for making tea - tea leaves, sugar, matches and gum leaves.

Rule 4: At night, in the high country, when you
boil the billy (make a small camp fire and boil water and water and gum leaves
in the billy) you are expected to tell a yarn (a story which must have some
semblance of truth, but which is exceptional in some way) while the dingo come
sit around the camp, just out of distance of a stone (a goodstonethrowaway) and
howl at you.

Rule 5: Bread with real butter must accompany tea when it is available.

Now you know onthewallaby, tucker,
gonewalkabout, jackaroo, jillaroo, nag, yarn, billy, boil the billy and a
goodstonethrowaway. Practice these, in case you end up getting transported to
the never-never.

Supplementary list (noting that the above is a bit light on)

a fair
knock out: well dressed in a rigout

a sport:
the best

bats on: infatuated with

blinkin
nark: informant

bull
headed: conceited

clearing
out: leaving

cop out: take
or avoid a punishment

cripes:
something to say while thinking of something meaningful to say

dead broke:
insufficient cash to get stonkered

gadding:
walking forth with the appearance of doing one thing while intent on another

goat: nerve

hot as
mustard: cool

onion,
noggin: head

pandy: to
throw tennis balls at, maliciously

peacherino
topnotch knock out: a fair knock out with the highest possible accolade

rigout: clothing
attended with advanced engineering

ropeable:
beyond the reach of reasonable argument

smooging up
to: abandoning principles in order to be accepted

snout: nose

stonkered, inked
to the eyebrows, full up to the back
teeth, blithered, full as a tick: intoxicated but still standing

to bear up:
to get close enough to hug another

to bull up:
to approach another (intending to bear up), without showing any trepidation

to own up
fair and square: to commit to something

whang
opinion: corporal punishment

This came about in a G+ exchange https://plus.google.com/+PeterQuinton/posts/jXNXjs6XAww which reminds me why I love this place. To own up fair and square, +Nina Anthonijsz, who is a good sport, prompted this.

This post was used in the novel Dragons Eye which also includes an attempt to use the language of New Zealanders as well.